15 May: Festa dei Ceri ( “Ceri Festival”)

“Sacred and profane fuse together to create a joyous explosion of living ” Why is it so difficult to “explain” the Ceri Festival? Because it is a festival that must be experienced first-hand, not explained. One could not otherwise explain a race which has no winners, does not foresee overtaking, and the only protagonist who can “climb into the winner’s circle” , is the patron saint of Gubbio (St. Ubaldo). It cannot be compared with other- much more recent festivals- the indestructible handing down of the Ceri Festival, faithful yet at the same time able ” to adapt” to the changing times. It is for this same reason that it is impossible to explain why the Ceri Festival has no spectators, but participants; does not have a script, but it has a long ritual which takes an entire day, always rich in emotion and participation; there is no entrance ticket, no chronometers or photofinishers..…A day that goes outside of normality, because it goes above and beyond it. “Very much, so much, everything” : symbolic words that synthesized the 15th of May, said by the late lawyer, Mr. Gini, one of the greatest modern poets for the city of Gubbio, in front of Folco Quilici’s microphone, in 1973”.(from the blog of Giacomo Marinelli Andreoli)